I have been in Hawaii for just over two weeks, and just now settling into everything here. This place is amazing!
I landed in Hilo, Hawaii on September 10th. I spent a few days easing into training and adjusting to the time zone out here. Right now its only 9pm but its 3am back home! A time difference of 6 hours is no joke!
I spent 18 hours getting here and after only a couple days I was on ANOTHER plane heading over to Oahu (one of the other islands) to the EliteXC show. BJ’s brother JD is one of the promoters and the gym had a couple fighters on the show. Renato “Charuto” Verissimo had a good fight with Jake Shields, Albert “Always Bad” Manners had a tough fight with Tyon Nam and “Iron Mike” Aina had an absolute WAR with Nick Diaz. My first Hawaii MMA show was a great experience.
After the EliteXC show it was still a few days before I as adjusted to the time zone, but I am good now. I have been doing a ton of training. Its nice being able to train double sessions everyday and not have cameras in my face every waking moment and being completely cut off from everyone. I am loving being able to train out here and not have to worry about anything else.
The weather out here is absolutely amazing. Its around 80 to 85 degrees and sunnyevery day. Its been raining a lot while I have been here, but its usually short bursts of hard rain so its actually pretty relaxing.
I have been out surfing a couple times and came to a quick realization. When you watch people surfing on TV and in movies, you just see them catching a wave and riding it in. You don’t get to see them fighting the waves to get out, paddling like crazy and getting crushed by incoming waves. Surfing is relaxing but its a major workout in itself. It’s an absolute killer shoulder workout.
We have been swimming a few times too and its unreal the wildlife out here. On our “off day” its really not off at all but called “active rest”. Active Rest is when you go and do something that gives you a workout but isn’t directly related to fighting. We went swimming last week for about an hour fighting the current and waves and chasing down turtles. You would think the turtles would be shy… but they aren’t. They just cruise and do their own thing. It’s pretty cool.
It’s tough to catch up with everyone back home, but I am trying. I get up around 7am and its 1pm back home. By the time I get out of training, shower and grab some lunch its 6 or 7PM back home and everyone is training. When you guys get out, I am training and I get done around 2am your time. I have been catching people slowly, but it takes time.
I will try to check in every so often. Keep checking back for updates!